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Axe hovers over student services

Services will be cut and jobs will be lost if vote is No

By Peter Duck and Rob Granatstein

Nancy Trefiak sits in her office and wonders what else she can do to save the Career Centre – and her job. 

Fluorescent posters cover every space in the centre, each one pleading for students to vote Yes in next Wednesday’s referendum.

The Grim Reaper, scythe in hand, hangs from the ceiling of the Career Centre. If students vote No the reaper’s scythe falls.

“If the vote is No, we’re closed,” said Trefiak, the Career Centre manager.

“The very services that are most sensitive to student needs are the ones that are going to be cut. You need us. The job market is tight and getting tighter.”

But Trefiak knows that her service is not the only one who’s fare hangs in the balance of the referendum. “We’re the first, but not the only service that will be cut.”

Ryerson administrators never wanted to charge for student services, but their hand was forced.

“Student services are central to what post-secondary education is about,” said Linda Grayson, Ryerson’s v.p. administration. “We thought by reorganizing we could manage, but the government reductions have overwhelmed us.”

Funding cuts have become a way of life for student services staff.

“We’ve been living with the stress of cuts for several years,” said Margaret Phillips, International Student Services coordinator. “We’ve all seen colleagues leave.

“There’s an underlying fear about the outcome of the vote. We’re not really nervous, but we really hope the vote is Yes.”

Phillips said her service is stretched to its limit. She comes into her office, sees the lineup outside, and says, “Let’s just get through this day.”

The Access Centre’s Bill Byrne said his office also feels the strain. He said they recently had bursary money to award to students with disabilities, but bestowing that honor turned out to be an extra burden. “We get more and more responsibilities, but no more money to do it.”

Referendum coordinator Bob Fullerton said he’s hopeful the vote will be Yes. “I’m optimistic, but its a guarded optimism because, who knows?”

Fullerton, Ryerson’s director of athletics, has a lot at stake because a No vote means cuts to varsity teams and RAC.

But no one has as much at stake as the Career Centre’s Nancy Trefiak. Next Wednesday Trefiak finds out if she will have a job in the New Year.

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